Page 10 - Open and Distance Education In Asia : Good Practice From AAOU Members

viii OPEN AND DISTANCE EDUCATON IN ASIA
Good Practices from AAOU Members

DISTANCE EDUCATION AND commercial and/or for-profit DE providers
OPEN UNIVERSITIES IN ASIA functioning throughout Asia (Jung, Wong, Li,
Distance education has a long history in Baigaltugs, & Belawati, 2011). The number
Asia. Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, has undoubtedly increased and currently,
introduced the concept of education for India alone has one national open university
all without discrimination more than 2,500 (The Indira Gandhi National Open University
years ago and advocated that everybody or IGNOU) along with 15 state open
who is ready to study should have access to univerisities (https://www.eduvidya.com/
educational opportunities (Song, 2022). Asia Open-Universities-in-India); South Korea has
is also one of the first continents to widely no less than 17 cyber and digital universities
adopt the principle of open education in which provide education completely online,
order to increase access to higher education in addition to the Korea National Open
by creating open universities based on the University (Lim, Lee, & Choi, 2019); China
United Kingdom Open University (UKOU) has 6 open universities (previously named
model (Belawati, Alfonso, & Saludadez, Central Radio and Television and 5 provincial
2020). The Korea National Open University radio and television universities (RTVUs)
(KNOU), established in 1972, was the first and 39 remaining RTVUs that runs similarly
open university in Asia. It was soon followed to open universities (Zhang & Li, 2019); and
by Pakistan’s Allama Iqbal Open University Malaysia has at least two open universities
(AIOU), founded in 1973. Since that time, and one cyber university. In addition to
other additional open universities have risen those institutions specifically focused on
up in various Asian nations, where they now DE, an increasing number of campus-based
dominate the region’s DE market. These universities are also providing DE programs,
open universities (OUs) are single-mode particularly in light of the COVID-19
institutions that only provide DE for their pandemic’s recent outbreak. As an example,
degree and continuing education programs. the pandemic forced over 4000 higher
By 2011, there were around 70 open education institutions in Indonesia that were
universities, at least 10 mega-universities entirely campus-based to shift their courses
(universities with student populations above to online formats. Many of those institutions
100,000), numerous traditional schools are predicted to continue offering DE even
offering DE, and an increasing number of after the pandemic is ended.

“

The Asian community has long placed a high value on

education and education is seen as the catalyst for social
welfare, upward social mobility, and overall human
well-being. Nowadays, Asia emerges as one of DE’s major
beneficiaries and players.

Introduction